Kane County, IL Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)
Key Facts
- Duty holder
- The hauler, not the commercial customer
- Offer frequency
- Written offer at least once every 2 years
- Education duty
- Recycling/composting info once every other year
- Waiver available
- 1 or 0 recyclables, 30-day county review
- Hauler penalty
- $50-$200 escalating fines, Sec. 11-114(A)(1)
Summary
Kane County does not force businesses to compost, but it forces their trash hauler to ask: Code Sec. 11-112(B)(3) requires every hauler serving a commercial business, commercial property or institutional facility to offer food-scrap and recyclables collection, and to make that written offer at least once every two years.
3. Each hauler shall offer, either as part of basic service, or alternatively as an additional service, the collection of recyclable materials and food scrap from any commercial business, commercial property, or institutional facility within the County. Haulers shall provide information on the requirements of this article and on how and what materials to recycle and compost at least once every other year to customers with recycling service. Haulers shall provide information on this article, along with a written offer to provide recycling services to commercial businesses, owners or operators of commercial property, and institutional facilities that are not recycling. Those offers shall be made at least once during the term of the contract or at least once every two (2) years, whichever is shorter.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-17: Code current through: Ord. 26-183, passed 4-14-2026).
Full Breakdown
Kane County's commercial recycling rules, Sec. 11-112, put the affirmative organics duty on the hauler rather than the customer. Every hauler operating in the county must offer the collection of recyclable materials and food scrap to any commercial business, commercial property, or institutional facility it serves, either bundled into basic service or available as an add-on. Beyond the offer itself, haulers must proactively educate customers: they must give existing recycling customers information on what and how to recycle and compost at least once every other year, and they must make a written offer of recycling and composting service to any commercial customer that is not yet recycling.
That written offer has to go out at least once during the contract term or at least once every two years, whichever comes sooner, and it must ask the business, property owner or institution to respond in writing about whether it wants the service. The article does not require the business to accept or actually separate food scraps, and Sec. 11-112(D) lets any commercial establishment that generates only one recyclable material, or none at all, apply to the Kane County Department of Environmental Management for a waiver to separate just one material, supported by a waste audit.
The county has 30 days to grant or deny that waiver, and a denial can be appealed to a hearing under Sec. 11-116 if the request is filed within 15 calendar days.
Violations & Fines
A hauler that never makes the required food-scrap and recycling offer is in violation of Sec. 11-112 and subject to the escalating hauler fine schedule in Sec. 11-114(A)(1): $50.00 for a first violation, $100.00 for a second, $200.00 for a third, and a 14-day license suspension on a fourth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my business have to compost food scraps in Kane County?
Can my business skip recycling if it only generates one type of material?
What happens if a hauler never makes the food-scrap offer?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kane County
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